Meeting
by whatanauthorsgottado
Summary: What if everyone had a timer that counted down to the moment they met their soul mate? Oneshot. Blueorbshipping, inspired by a tumblr post.


**A/N**: The inspiration for this little piece comes from a post on tumblr (found here if you remove the spaces: ishkaqwiaidurugnul. tumblr post/105026608914/vonmunsterr-ghostsneverleave-insanihty) asking what the world might be like if everyone had a timer that counted down to the moment they met their soul mate... and as I've had ORAS very much on the mind lately, I immediately came up with this idea. It's also posted on my blog here: whatanauthorsgottado. tumblr post/108762499333/so-this-post-floated-cross-my-dash-last-night-and

Please enjoy!

* * *

I climbed the stairs in the Oceanic Museum, wondering simultaneously about two things: one, what exactly Team Aqua was hoping to find here... and two, why the timer on my wrist said I would meet my soul mate here in exactly – I glanced at it again – twenty minutes, sixteen seconds.

Maybe there was someone in the museum who wasn't a member of Team Aqua? I hoped my soul mate wasn't one of that bunch. I couldn't imagine any kind of connection between a member of a gang of criminals and a goody-two-shoes girl like me.

I banished all thoughts of my soul mate. That wasn't important now. The important thing was seeing if Captain Stern really was here, and making sure he didn't get hurt.

Behind a few display tables near the far wall from the stairs, a man who wasn't wearing a Team Aqua uniform was looking at a model ship in one of the cases.

_That's probably him_, I thought, so I went over to him. "Hello!"

He turned away from the model. "Yes?"

"I went to the Shipyard to look for someone, but they said he wasn't there... Do you know where Captain Stern might be?"

"If you're looking for Stern, that would be me."

"Oh, good." I reached into my bag. "I have a package for you."

"Ah! Those must be the parts I ordered from Mr. Stone at Devon. Thank you for bringing the case all this way."

"It wasn't too much trouble, really." I handed him the briefcase.

He held it carefully, like it was a child. "They are indeed the Devon Parts! Now we can prepare for our expedition at last!"

At that moment - as it always happens - the worst possible thing happened. A pair of Team Aqua grunts appeared from behind the display area in the middle of the floor and approached us.

"Heh heh heh heh..." One of them chuckled in what was apparently an attempt to be creepy. "Hold up a moment! We'll be taking those!"

Stern whirled around in fright. "Wh-what was that?! Who are you people?!"

I moved around Stern to stand between him and the Aqua Grunts. There was no way I was going to let them steal the Devon Parts now, after I had carried them all the way from Rustboro City.

"We're Team Aqua!" The grunt proclaimed. "Our boss wants the parts in that case, so shut your yap and fork it over!"

"No way. Your boss can't have those parts!" I grabbed my Combusken's ball and tossed it.

"So that's how you want to play, huh? Guess I'll have to take the parts by force!"

Fifteen minutes and two battles later, the Aqua Grunts were cringing, Stern was looking relieved and grateful, and the timer on my wrist had ticked down to one minute and eleven seconds.

The two grunts backed away. "She beat the twenty-seventh strongest grunt in Team Aqua?" he muttered, then turned to his partner. "N-now what? If we don't get that case, we're in for it!"

His partner turned to him in return, nervously avoiding eye contact with me. "I never thought we'd be stopped by some meddling kid! Man, the boss is going to be so steamed... I just hope he's not around when we-"

Suddenly, the staircase echoed with footsteps. We all started at the sound. The grunts cringed again.

"_What if that's the boss_?!" One whispered to the other.

"Oh, we're screwed..."

Stern, meanwhile, looked smug. "That must be the police. One of the receptionists must have notified them of your bunch of criminals showing up," he said to the grunts.

I said nothing, just glanced at my timer again. Forty-eight seconds.

The footsteps came closer to the top. Over the stair rail, I could see a bit of blue, which took on the form of a bandana as it became more visible.

My sudden hopes of having a police officer as my soul mate were crushed.

The head around which the bandanna was wrapped came fully into view a bare two seconds before the person themselves stepped onto the top stair. The person coming up the stairs was a tall man with a built physique and dark skin. Besides the bandana wrapped around his head, he wore a blue-and-white wetsuit and an anchor pendant on a thick gold chain around his neck. A dark beard beard adorned the sides of his face and came to a point just past his chin. His eyes were shadowed in a faint 'x'-formation, and he wore a grim expression that didn't seem to fit his face.

He was also, I realized as I got a good look at him, extremely attractive.

He walked over slowly, eyes fixed on the grunts, who were staring at their boots like they were the most interesting things they had ever seen.

I tore my eyes away from the newcomer and glanced down at my timer again. Thirty-one seconds. _No way. Is this_...

My thoughts were interrupted when the man stopped walking, fixed the Aqua grunts with a glare, and spoke.

"What do we have here?" His tone was conversational, but the grunts quailed under his glare. "I came to see what was taking so long just to steal a few parts, and I find you simps getting beat by this kid?"

"We're sorry, boss! It's just - she's really tough, she's got a Combusken with a nasty kick!"

"That so?" He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes, then at the grunt who hadn't spoken. "One of you has a Carvahna, don't you? Or a Zubat? Something strong to Fire or Fighting types?"

"Well, they don't - Carvahna doesn't know any Water moves... and it knocked Zubat right out..."

The man shook his head in despair. "Can't get good grunts anywhere... I'll deal with you two later." He turned to face me properly, and in that moment, as our eyes met, I swore I could feel the timer on my wrist tick down to zero.

He looked me over and nodded, apparently satisfied. "That's quite a fierce expression for such a wee little scamp. That face tells me you're not just another mindless Trainer brat..." He pulled at one of his hands, revealing that the wetsuit fabric there had an opening at the wrist. He offered the wrist for me to look at.

Sure enough, there was a timer on his wrist. Shakily, I held out my own wrist. They matched perfectly, down to the display flashing zero every second.

"... And that tells me you're important," he finished with a grin. "The name is Archie, leader of Team Aqua. I expect we'll be seeing quite a lot of each other from now on." He turned back to the stairs. "Come on, we're moving out."

The grunts stared dumbly at me for a moment, then turned and rushed after their leader. I stood in silent shock as he walked away.

I couldn't possibly have - he couldn't - my soul mate was Team Aqua's leader? How? Why? I couldn't focus. My thoughts whirled incomprehensibly, fixed around the now-blank timer on my wrist.

Suddenly, he turned from the top of the stairs. He seemed surprised to find that I hadn't followed him.

"Come on, scamp, we've got places to be."

I opened my mouth to protest, to say I wasn't going anywhere with him, to deny that he could possibly be my soul mate, but all that came out was, "My name is May."

"Right. May." He held out a hand. An invitation to come. An invitation to throw away everything I had known before and join him. My soul mate. "Come with me."

I hesitated, then took a single step forward.


End file.
